Maybe Holding Hands Wasn't Such a Good Idea

“Let me see!” Kara said as she all but dragged me into the nearest girl’s restroom the following morning at school.

“K! What the hell are you doing?” I asked alarmed as Kara pushed me toward an empty stall and pulled my backpack off of my shoulders quickly, making me wince as my backpack rubbed over my shoulder, hitting me squarely on my bruise.

“I wanna see what that bitch did to you,” she said as she spun me around so that she was now standing behind me in the tiny space. “Holy crap!” Kara exclaimed as I felt my shirt being lifted.

“Kara! Stop!” I pulled my shirt back down, my cheeks heated up. “Jeez, Kara, the least you could do is take me out to a cheap dinner before you start taking my clothes off in public places.”

Kara actually laughed a bit before her face became serious again. “Does it hurt? It looks like it hurts.”

“I can’t believe Matt told you,” I said as I shook my head. “No, not anymore, it really looks worse than it is,” I said trying to reassure her. I saw the big purple and black bruise this morning and could understand why Kara was looking at me like she was now, like I was just some small puppy that couldn’t take care of itself. Truthfully though, it did hurt, a lot, and I was really sore, but I didn’t want anyone else to know that.

“I can’t believe that you didn’t tell me, Liv, and that I had to find out from Matt! Why did you let that skank get the drop on you? Why is it your ass that’s hurt and not hers?”

“She moved too fast, I didn’t even have time to react and then she was gone,” I explained. “Had I been expecting that cheap shot, you know she wouldn’t have been able to lay a hand on me.”

“What good are all those stupid lessons your parents had you learn if when you need them, you don’t use them?” Kara asked.

I shrugged. “It won’t happen again. You can count on that.”

“Damn straight it won’t. Matt told me not to leave you alone today. Pfft, like he has to tell me what I already know,” Kara scoffed.

The bell rang then and echoed loudly off the tiled walls.

“Let’s go,” Kara said as she unlocked the stall door, thankfully no one else was in there and hadn’t heard our conversation. “Time to get you to class,” she said grabbing my elbow lightly and walking me out of the restroom.

“K, I can get to class on my own you know.” I said stubbornly as Kara guided me through the packed hallway. “I don’t need a body guard.”

“Tough cookies,” Kara said as she continued to propel me forward.

Kids were giving us strange looks as we walked by them. We had now reached the door to my first class and I was about to go in when Kara stopped me.

“Wait here for one of the guys after class,” she said quickly and started to rush away from me.

“Wait! What?” I yelled after her.

Kara just waved her hand and continued to rush to her first period leaving me standing there with a scowl on my face.

“This is going to be an interesting day,” I muttered as I took my seat.

As Kara had promised, Jimmy was waiting for me outside of my first class when the bell rang for second period. He made small talk as he walked me to my locker and I made the usual exchange of books for my next classes. Jimmy walked me to my second class and told me that either Kara or Zacky was going to walk me to my third period class then he saluted me before walking off.

Zacky was waiting for me after second period. We said hello to each other before he walked me toward the English building.

“This is completely ridiculous, you know,” I said. “I really don’t need, or want you guys to walk me to class all day.”

“Matt thinks it’s necessary,” Zacky shrugged. “I agree with him, but if you don’t like it, take it up with him,” he said before leaving me at Mr. Johnson’s room.

I ducked inside and took my assigned seat with an annoyed sigh, getting my novel and notebook out of my bag before the bell rang.

I wasn’t paying much attention to Mr. Johnson—again—while I waited for the bell to ring to let me out of class. Matt and I hadn’t really made a definitive plan for today so I guess we were just going to wing it. I suppose I would have to pretend to be somewhat scared of Tiffany when I saw her after class, I nearly snorted out loud at the thought.

When the bell rang, I quickly gathered up my things and walked out of the class. I fully expected that Kara or one of the guys would be there waiting for me already, but no one was. Taking full advantage of this fact, I started walking down the hall and that’s when I spotted Matt with her.

I quickly looked away and saw that Tommy was keeping a close eye on me and I rolled my eyes before I waved at him. Tommy’s cheeks flushed red before he all but ran out of the building.

Matt walked up to me then and I felt myself smile a bit before looking at Tiffany who was giving me a warning glance and I wiped the half smile off of my face.

“Gotta go,” I muttered quietly before Matt could even say “hi” to me. I made my way out of the building quickly, letting Tiffany think she had gotten to me yesterday.



“Did you see how many goals I shot, Liv?” Harry asked me with a large happy grin as his arms and legs tightened around my neck and waist. Harry’s team—the Stingrays—won the game and James, Lily, Harry and I were walking back through the park towards the parking lot.

“I sure did, buddy,” I said smiling at him over my shoulder. Harry was literally beaming down at me and I was sure that nothing short of a zombie apocalypse would be able to knock the smile off of his face. I readjusted my grip on the squirming boy riding on my back making sure he wasn’t resting on my bruise. “You were fantastic!”

Harry’s smile widened impossibly more at my compliment. “Daddy said were getting ice cream, wanna come?”

I looked over at a nodding James and Lily before putting Harry back down on his feet. “Tell you what,” I said. “If you can beat me back to your dad’s truck, not only will I go with you guys, but I’ll buy everybody’s ice cream, how does that sound?”

“Deal,” Harry nodded. He stopped smiling as a look of concentration took over his face. “Ready, set, go!” He said taking off like a little rocket in his red and black uniform.

“Hey!” I blinked and then turned to smile at James and Lily who were smiling indulgently at their son’s antics. “That’s cheating!” I yelled as I started to jog after him.

Harry’s little laugh floated back to me as he stuck out his tongue, taunting me as he ran faster ahead of me.

I turned back to Lily and James who were laughing loudly now, wiping at their eyes.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t paying attention to where I was running and ended up running head first into someone and managed to knock us both down in the process.

“Ow, ow, ow!” I said clutching at my head, already feeling a prominent bump rising on my forehead.

“I could say the same thing.”

I looked up in surprise. “Matt?”

“Hey.”

I blushed. “Sorry about this. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was running, and I was looking back at—Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. My ass broke my fall.”

“Sorry,” I said again.

“Oh my god, Liv! Are you alright?” James asked kneeling down next to me, quickly looking over me for any injuries.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I shot him an assuring smile.

“James, help her up,” Lily said when she reached us.

“Oh, right,” James said standing and extending his hand toward me, lifting me up almost effortlessly.

James and Lily were now looking at Matt who was dusting off his shirt and pants.

“James, Lily, this is Matt Sanders,” I introduced. “Matt, this is James and Lily Archer.”

Matt and James shook hands before Matt quickly shook Lily’s hand.

“Sanders?” James asked with an arched brow. “As in Kara Sanders?”

“Yes, sir,” Matt nodded. “Kara’s my younger sister.”

“Oh, so then you go to school with Liv then?” Lily asked.

“Yes, ma’am,” he answered politely.

“Hey! What happened?” Harry asked as he ran up to us. “I thought we were getting ice cream now. And Liv has to buy it ’cause I won the race.” Harry grabbed both mine and Lily’s hands in his small ones.

“You cheated,” I smiled down at him.

“Nuh uh. Beat you fair and square. Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!” Harry chanted excitedly.

“In a minute sweetie,” Lily ruffled Harry’s messy brown hair. “We’re just talking with Liv’s friend here.”

Harry looked over and took notice of Matt for the first time. He moved behind Lily slightly, his eyes widened a bit as his grip tightened around my hand.

I knelt down on the grass so that I could be at Harry’s eye level. “Harry, this is my friend Matt. Do you wanna say hi?”

Matt knelt down next to me and smiled warmly at Harry. “Hi, Harry,” he waved.

Harry let go of my hand to wave back. “Hi,” he said softly.

“Stingrays, huh?” Matt asked. “That’s the soccer team right?”

Harry nodded silently, never taking his eyes off of Matt.

“Cool, I like soccer,” Matt grinned.

Harry’s eyes lit up in his face. “You do?” His voice held a note of wonder that reflected through his smile.

“You bet,” Matt nodded.

Without taking his eyes off of Matt, Harry asked his mom, “Mom is it okay if Matt gets ice cream with us?”

Both Lily and James looked at me and I nodded once letting them know I was fine with it.

“If Matt wants to come, it’s okay with me,” Lily said.

“You wanna get ice cream with us?” Harry asked Matt, his voice no longer shy and quiet.

Matt looked over at me and smiled. “Yeah, sure thing, kiddo, I love ice cream.”

“Yes!” Harry exclaimed. He dropped Lily’s hand and took hold of Matt’s hand. “Let’s go!” Harry said as he began to pull Matt forward toward the parking lot, James, Lily, and I following behind.

“So did you win your game today?” Matt asked.

Harry nodded. “Yup. I scored two goals. I didn’t think I was gonna make the last one cause the goalie was right there, but I did! It was so cool.”

I couldn’t help the small smile on my face as I listened to Matt and Harry talk back and forth about Harry’s game. Lily caught my eye then and mouthed, He’s cute.

I tried my best not to blush and nodded in agreement.

After we had gotten Harry’s celebratory ice cream, Matt had driven me home, again, despite my protests. The sun was just starting to set behind the clouds as he pulled up at the curb and parked his truck.

“So Harry’s a big ball of energy,” Matt commented.

I smiled. “You don’t know the half of it.”

“You like him.”

“You met him,” I said, as I realized Matt was stating this and he wasn’t asking me a question. “What’s not to like?”

“I guess you’re right. I like him too. He’s a great kid,” Matt smiled.

“You don’t know the half of it,” I reiterated with a smile. “And soccer’s really helping to bring him out of his shell.”

“You’re different around him,” Matt said suddenly.

My eyebrows furrowed together at what Matt had said. “Different? How?”

“Well, you can’t stop smiling for one thing,” Matt said reaching forward and gently touched my cheek with his finger.

My smile only widened more. “I can’t help but smile around him; Harry’s just such a cool kid.”

Matt smiled at me. “Yeah, I know. I couldn’t stop smiling either, my cheeks actually hurt a bit.”

I laughed. “So, do you want to come inside for a while?”

“Sure,” Matt nodded.

Matt and I got out of his truck and walked toward my house, we didn’t speak again until we were up in my bedroom.

“Why did you tell Kara about what Tiffany did yesterday?” I asked taking a seat on the tan couch.

“I didn’t know it was supposed to be a secret,” Matt shrugged as he sat down next to me. “Besides, I thought you would have told her anyway.”

“You’re wrong about that. I didn’t even mean to tell you and I definitely wasn’t going to mention it to Kara either.”

“Why not?”

“Because I knew she would over-react like you did,” I said crossing my arms over my chest. “Don’t you think you went a little overboard today? I mean, I could barely take a breath without someone else there sharing it with me.”

Matt grinned at my little rant.

“It’s not funny,” I said with a pout.

Matt’s grin widened. “I know, it’s just you’re kinda cute when you’re mad.”

I felt my cheeks heat up slightly. “Don’t change the subject.”

Matt turned his body toward me. “Look, I promised you, Kara, and Carver that you wouldn’t get hurt, and I was just ensuring that you wouldn’t,” he sighed. “Believe me, if I could have, I would have spent the day watching out for you instead of listening to Tiffany’s constant whining.”

I let out a soft laugh. “Yeah, well that’s not much of a compliment seeing as how she’s the worst,” I replied as I threw a pillow at him.

Matt laughed as he caught it in mid-air before it could hit his face. “It is a compliment though. You’re fun to be around, Liv. I like hanging out with you.”

I smiled at that. “I like hanging out with you, too, but I still don’t want anyone walking me to class tomorrow. I had to make up an excuse when Tyler asked me why Jimmy was walking with us to my sixth period.”

Matt smirked. “Fine, I’ll let everyone know they don’t have to walk you around tomorrow.”

I smiled in relief. “Thanks.”

“Yeah, well, don’t thank me yet, just because I tell them they don’t have to, doesn’t mean they won’t. You know Kara won’t leave you alone anyway.”

“Yeah, I know. She nearly ripped my shirt off of me this morning just to see my shoulder,” I grimaced.

“How’re you feeling, by the way?” Matt asked a note of concern had entered his voice. “I bet you’re sore.”

I nodded. “A little, but it doesn’t hurt as bad as yesterday.”

“Good, I’m glad. You have no idea how hard it was not to bring it up with Tiffany today,” Matt said. “When you just took off earlier this morning in the hallway all she could do was smile and it killed me that I had to pretend that I didn’t know what she was smiling about.”

I covered Matt’s hand with my own. “I know, but just think about it, after Saturday this will all be over and you won’t have to deal with her anymore. Just one more day,” I smiled in reassurance.

The corners of Matt’s lips lifted slightly. “One more day,” he nodded. “Can’t fucking wait.”